New England Patriots Shock Cincinnati Bengals In Week 1 As Zac Taylor’s Opening Weekend Struggles Continue

Zac Taylor has an awful record with the Cincinnati Bengals during the start of the season, with a loss to the Patriots moving the head coach t0 a 1-10 record in his first two weeks of every season.  

Patriots Stun Bengals

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor has an awful record during his first two weeks of the season and a loss to the Patriots on Sunday could be his biggest upset yet.

The Bengals were 7.5 point favourites coming into the opening week against New England, but they played like underdogs throughout the match with the Patriots impressing on all fronts.

Cincinnati could only get ten points on the scoreboard in what was a difficult afternoon for Joe Burrow’s offence, with two touchdowns all but ruled out because of fumbles including one on the 1-yard line.

Burrow said after the game: “We had our opportunities and didn’t take advantage of them. It was not our best day. We will come back and learn from it for next week.”

Rhamondre Stevenson impressed for the Patriots, with 120 rushing yards and one touchdown in a productive start to the campaign for New England’s running back.

Rhamondre Stevenson today:

25 carries
120 yards
1 touchdown

Upset alert. pic.twitter.com/SzdTEUMCId

— StatMuse (@statmuse) September 8, 2024

The week 1 loss for Cincinnati is nothing new under head coach Zac Taylor, who now holds a 1-10 record in Cincinnati during his first two weeks of the season since he joined the NFL in 2019. In the only season the Bengals haven’t gone 0-2 under Taylor as head coach, they made the Super Bowl.

Despite the defeat, Taylor is confident his side will get back on track before long: “We’ve got to tackle better and we’ve got to win the turnover battle.

Things don’t get much easier for the Bengals either, as they travel to Arrowhead Stadium next Sunday for a week 2 clash against Super Bowl three-peat hopefuls Kansas City.

The Chiefs beat Baltimore in an exciting opening night match last week so they will be a tough opponent, but Joe Burrow is the only active QB to have beaten Mahomes in the playoffs so he will fancy his chances in week 2.